Skip to main content

Sarbanes, House Democrats Introduce Resolution to Advance Bold Democracy Reforms

June 28, 2018

The By the People Resolution Lays the Groundwork to Fix Our Democracy and Return Us to Government Of, By and For the People

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Democracy Reform Task Force Chair Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) today led more than 160 House Democrats in introducing the By the People Resolution. In May, Congressional Democrats unveiled the Better Deal for Our Democracy. The By the People Resolution builds on that effort, identifying bold democracy reforms to clean up the culture of corruption, pay-to-play politics and backroom dealing in Republican-controlled Washington.

The resolution advances several core areas of reform, including policies that empower each and every American voter, strengthen our nation's ethics laws for government officials and fix our broken campaign finance system.

"This resolution sends a powerful message to the American people that Democrats are committed to cleaning up the chaos and corruption in Washington," said Congressman Sarbanes. "By enacting the concrete polices laid out in this resolution, we can fix our democracy and make Congress more responsive to the American people."

Specifically, the resolution calls for:

  • Expanding access to the ballot box;
  • Promoting national automatic voter registration;
  • Ending partisan redistricting by establishing state-based, independent commissions;
  • Restoring the integrity of the Voting Rights Act;
  • Protecting the integrity of the election system;
  • Ending the revolving door of special interests into and out of government;
  • Expanding ethics laws to apply to the president and to promote greater accountability of the chief executive;
  • Reforming the Office of Government Ethics;
  • Updating the Lobbying Disclosure Act and prohibiting bundled campaign contributions from lobbyists;
  • Strengthening bribery laws to guard against public officials profiting from public service;
  • Empowering small donors and diminishing the influence of big-money campaign donors;
  • Disclosing "secret money" and promoting transparency of political spending;
  • Amending the Constitution to reassert Congress' authority to regulate political spending and overturn the Citizens United ruling;
  • Preventing foreign interference in our elections;
  • Restoring function to the Federal Election Commission; and
  • Strengthening coordination law to prevent candidate-affiliated Super PACs.

For full text of the resolution, see here.

###